Bloodletting

There is a rumble like thunder beneath the earth, and the whole planet swells like she could burst any second. The ground level is mostly swamps, but nearly every rise in the crust has ended up being a volcano. Most of them erupted years ago, and others have yet to shine. One is choosing some point of the current day to do said shining, meaning the shaky ground is far more frequent than usual.

This is unfortunate for two reasons. One, it means that a good chunk of the planet will melt away, more than a bit of it inhabited by wildlife. They run, panicked, through the trees at the base of the mountain. Some will make it. Some will not. Still, there is more here than just wildlife.

This planet is where Aron Wolf has chosen to hide the curious little magic jar, the one that contained one of the most deadly beings in existence within it. The foolishness of dwarves, even to this day, would astound him. As it is, the jar sits at the edge of one of the swamps, directly at the base of the burning mountain, which very suddenly erupts.

The peak of the planet tower breaks apart and bursts up into the sky, the explosion’s intensity giving the very core of the planet a jolt. Lava belches down upon the trees and any creatures not fortunate enough to start running sooner. Lava also splashes the side of the mountain and oozes downward like a river of molten death, toward the swamp. Within almost no time at all, the lava river reaches that jar, scooping it up and carrying it along with the current. The jar doesn’t melt, but it does begin to crack…

Finally, the lid of the container shatters, and a fist almost as large as the jar itself comes flying out. Slapping down into the lava, long fingernails and bony fingers dig in deep, through the burning magma, into the melting earth below. With a strangled cry, the rest of Mordecai pulls himself literally out of a figurative frying pan, and literally into the fire. Hardly noticing the lava beneath him, the near-indestructible Vampyrum uncurls his limbs, willing himself to stand.

Standing in the pelting drops of lava from the still rupturing volcano, Mordecai looks around, taking in his surroundings. It all makes sense to him pretty quickly: He attacked Valerie, then Matilda betrayed and imprisoned him. The dwarf Aron must have brought him here, looking to hide him away at Matilda’s or Valerie’s (or both’s) behest. His lip curls back, baring his cruel teeth in anger. They all thought he would be cast away so easily?? Goddamn insulting.

“Your own blood has turned its back on you,” the old blood sucker says quietly to himself, barely forming the words with how dry his lips are. “Everyone you put your faith in has abandoned you. The only one you can trust is you. So trust yourself… to end this. Trust yourself… to kill them.” His entire body shaking, Mordecai lifts a leg, and promptly stomps on the nearby jar, crushing the magical prison to glass and dust beneath his boot.